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Samson was of noble blood, the son of Amon of Dyfed and Anna of Gwent. His father's brother also married his mother's sister, and their son, Saint Magloire , was his cousin. As part of the prophecy concerning his birth, his parents placed him under the care of Saint Iltud , abbot of Llantwit to become a monk. Samson later became abbot of Llantwit. He was ordained bishop by bishop Dubricius on the Feast of the Chair of St Peter ( February 22) at the beginning of Lent -- which can be calculated to have fallen in the year 521, the only certain date in Samson's life. If the usual practice was observed and he was 35 years old at the time of his ordination, this would mean he was born in 486; however, he is recorded as having been in attendance at a church Council in Paris held at some time between 556 and 573, had been born in 486, he would have been at least 70 years old at the time of this Council.

Samson was abbot at several different monasteries before he was ordained bishop, and following his ordination, he travelled to Ireland, South Wales, CornwallCornwall ( Cornish: Kernow is the part of Great Britain's south-west peninsula that is west of the River Tamar. It is generally regarded as a county of, and a part of England, although advocates of Cornish independence regard it as a separate nation, and, the Channel IslandsAlternative meaning: Channel Islands (California The Channel Islands are a group of islands off the coast of Normandy, France, in the English Channel. They comprise two separate bailiwicks: the Bailiwick of Guernsey and the Bailiwick of Jersey. History Ma, and BrittanyRegion Bretagne Details Information Capital: Rennes Population Total Density 2 972 700 2003 107 /km² Area27 208 km² Arrondissements15 Cantons201 Communes1 268 President of the regional council Jean-Yves Le Drian Departements Cotes-d'Armor (22) Ille-et-Vil. In Cornwall he founded a monastery that was located at either South Hill or Golant, and in Brittany he founded the monastery of Dol. Samson also participated in Breton politics, successfully petitioning the MerovingianFor other uses of the term 'Merovingian', see Merovingian (disambiguation). The Merovingians were a dynasty of Frankish kings who ruled a (frequently fluctuating) area in parts of present-day France and Germany from the 5th to 8th century AD. They were so king Childebert IChildebert I was born about 496 at Rheims, in the Marne, departement, of France and died in 558. He was a Frankish king, and a member of the Merovingian dynasty, one of the four sons of Clovis. Childebert I In the partition of his father's realm in 511 he on behalf of king Juduwal . He was buried, with his cousin Magloire, in the Cathedral of Dol. He is one of the seven founder saints of Brittany.

The primary source for his biography is the Vita Sancti Samsonis, written sometime between 610 and 820, but clearly based on earlier materials. Not only does it preserve such details about Samson such as his abstinence from alcohol -- unlike many of his contemporaries, such as the abbot Piro who was killed when he fell down a well while drunk -- but valuable details about Celtic ChristianityCeltic Christianity is Christianity as it was first received and practiced by communities with Celtic backgrounds that observed certain practices divergent from those in the rest of Europe. The conversion of pagan England was brought about by two very dif in Britain during Samson's time. This document details the contacts churchmen in Britain had with both Ireland and Brittany, details of their belief, as well as offering facts that have been used to prove both that religious communities were headed by abbots where the bishops served in a subordinate role, and that these communities were actually headed by bishops as was the usual practice in the rest of Europe. This Vita was later used as a model for the writing of other saint lives in Brittany.